GJW Direct Belle Isle Event at Rock - Results

The Larks returned to Rock over the May bank holiday for their 27th annual visit. Race Officer Martin Hough set five races in the bay, spread over two days (to allow time for the Short Course Championships on the Monday – see separate report).

On Saturday, a cool Southerly wind made for a fairly steady wind as it funnelled down the estuary. With the tide still ebbing, there was only one way to go, which was to bang right and head for Stepper Point, crossing a tide line into slack water.

In race 1, Chris Whitehouse &Simon Haighton started last on the gate and banged right, leading the race all round, followed by Nigel Hufton & Adam Owens. In Race 2, both boats tried to start so late they had to reach down to the gate launch, leaving them a lot of work to do. Roome/Allan got it right and took the bullet pursued by Hufton/Owens, who had picked their way through the fleet from last at the first mark. Steve Hall & Ally Dart beat the pursuing pack to take third and joint overnight lead.

Sunday racing was held in the afternoon – again on the last of the ebb tide – and the wind slightly more east than South. Those who assumed it was Groundhog Day and banged right were disappointed, as the wind was swinging through 30 degrees, so it paid to know the angles and pick the right shift to work right on. Hufton/Owens seemed read the shifts best and had great speed, so pulled out a comfortable lead in every race and won with a race to spare.

Behind them, some great racing took place, as five different boats got top 3 results - Hall/Dart, Chris Holiman & Kate Hutchins, Harry Pynn & Gemma Cook and new faces Chris Catt & Chris Martin. However, it was Whitehouse/Haighton who had the best combined score on the day allowing them to take second place overall from Pynn/Cook.

It was great to see half the fleet sported the newly-allowed laminate mainsails, from 3 different sailmakers (North, P&B and Edge), Team North winning on this occasion.

All pictures from the weekend on the Rock Sailing and Waterski Club website - and there are lots of them!